4.1 Intro to Congress

Unit 4 – Introduction to Congress

Topic 4.1.1 - Introduction to Congress

Overview

• Learners can:

 Examine the bicameral structure of Congress
 Examine Congress membership and details about
Congress, including its diversity and privileges

• Vocabulary

 Gerrymandering
 House of Representatives
 Incumbents
 legislative branch
 Senate
 term

Congress Hall was home to the U.S. Congress from 1790 to 1800, when
Philadelphia served as the temporary capital of the United States.

Madison's
Purpose for
creating a
representativerepublic.

Which principle of the Constitution is Madison
referencing in this quote?

A. Popular Sovereignty

B. Representative
Government

C. Rule of Law

D. Separation of Powers

Multiple Choice

Which principle of the Constitution is Madison referencing in this quote?

• Popular Sovereignty

• Representative Government

• Rule of Law

• Separation of Powers

Which principle of the Constitution is Madison
referencing in this quote?

A. Popular Sovereignty

B. Representative
Government

C. Rule of Law

D. Separation of Powers

According to Madison, in what ways do “public
views” change when they are “passed through”
elected representatives?

A. The ideas change
dramatically

B. The ideas are dismissed

C. The ideas improve and
become more perfected.

D. The ideas no longer reflect
the people's thoughts.

Multiple Choice

According to Madison, in what ways do “public views” change when they are “passed through” elected representatives?

• The ideas change dramatically

• The ideas are dismissed

• The ideas improve and become more perfected.

• The ideas no longer reflect the people's thoughts.

According to Madison, in what ways do “public
views” change when they are “passed through”
elected representatives?

A. The ideas change dramatically

B. The ideas are dismissed

C. The ideas improve and become
more perfected.

D. The ideas no longer reflect the
people's thoughts.

Legislative Branch

An organization of elected representatives that makes official policies, called laws.

Framers of the Constitution designed the national legislative branch to make public policies that support the “true interest” of the United States, reflected in the structure and functions of Congress.

Essential Question

Does today’s Congress reflect the vision of the Framers?

Congress: A Bicameral Legislature

• What do your local county or city council, state legislature, and the U.S. Congress
have in common? All three are legislative branches.

• While laws passed by your local legislature only need to be followed by citizens in
your immediate surroundings, laws passed by the U.S. Congress apply to the entire
nation.

Congress: A Bicameral Legislature

• bicameral Congress reflects the Constitution’s attempt to balance the interests of the population of the United States with the interests of the individual states.

• Members of the House of Representatives are selected based on proportional representation.
 Each state sends representatives to Congress in proportion to its overall population.
 States with the highest population have the most influence.

• The Senate gives states equal representation - 2 senators each.

Watch the video "The Bicameral Legislature" below. Why did the Framers want a
bicameral legislature?

Note how the Senate and House of Representatives are different.

Multiple Select

Why did the
Framers want a bicameral legislature? 3 choices are correct!

• To set up checks and balances in Congress.

• To appease the small states

• To appease the large states

• One chamber represents freedom, and the other chamber
  represents stability

Two Houses of Congress

House of Representatives

• 435 voting members

• Proportional Representation

• 2 year term

• Presided over by the Speaker of the
House: Mike Johnson

Senate

• 100 members

• Equal Representation

• 6 year term

• Presided over by the President Pro Tempore & Vice President –
Currently Chuck Grassley and J.D. Vance

5 nonvoting House delegates from
•D.C, Guam
• American Samoa
• the U.S. Virgin Islands,
• the Northern Mariana Islands, and
• 1 nonvoting resident commissioner from Puerto Rico.

Membership of Congress

119th Congress began on January 3, 2025 and will end January 3, 2027

 155 women
~28.65% of Congress are women

As of January 2025, the average age of Representatives is 57.9 years and Senators is 63.9 years. 

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Current
Senate
Makeup

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Don't forget –People vote, not land

Don't forget –
People vote,
not land

Congressional Meetings

2025

Session = 1 year

What does Congress Do?

What does a member of Congress do?

•Represent the people of their district

•Develop and vote on legislation

•All bills must pass through Congress BEFORE they can go to the President to be
signed into law.

How many members of Congress come from each state?

•Each state has TWO Senators to represent them.

•In the House of Representatives, representation is based on that states’
POPULATION.

•Ex. small states like Vermont and Delaware have one representative while large states
like California have 53 representatives. PA has 19 representatives.

What does Congress Do?

What is the House responsible for?

•Senate has the sole privilege of the “advice and consent” powers
•ex. Power to approve treaties or confirming appointments of cabinet
secretaries, federal judges, federal executive officials, and ambassadors

What is the Senate responsible for?

•House specifically has the power to initiate revenue bills and to
impeach the President

•Access to a wide variety of benefits and privileges
•Each member receives funding to pay for their official and representational duties
•including office staff, office expenses, and official mailings (known as the "franking
privilege")

What privileges do Congress members have?

Setting standards of conduct

•Constitution grants both the House and the Senate the authority to
“judge the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members.”

•By a majority vote, either chamber may deny seats to individuals it
decides are not worthy of the office

•Power has been used on a number of occasions
•most notably to deny former Confederate officials seats during the
Reconstruction era

•Members also may vote to censure, or formally punish, another
member for improper actions
•Not removal, that is known as expulsion and needs a 2/3 vote

•Not used often – why? symbolic, can create tensions btw parties

House Censures

Senate Censures

Incumbency

Incumbent: Elected officials who are
seeking reelection

•There are no limits on how many times a
member of Congress can serve

•The average representative has served in office
for 8.8 years (or 4.4. terms)

•Incumbents tend to win elections over
challengers (80%-90% success rate)

Why So Successful?

1. They have connections
2. They can raise money more easily
3. They are better known to voters
4. They have a proven track record
5. Gerrymandering leads to districts of loyal voters

Why are Incumbents so Successful?

We will learn
more on
Gerrymandering
in lesson 4.1.3
and 4.1.4

Source - https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-
prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/KENSOBMKNQ7ILKFUNRZ2H6JPWA.png&w=916

Advantages of Incumbency

• Members of Congress can serve as many terms
as they wish, many are reelected at every
election.
 In some places there are no challengers to
incumbents

• Incumbent senators are routinely reelected with more than an 80% success rate.

 For members of the House, the incumbent success rate is often more than 90%

• Election advantage is even apparent during
times when Americans are not happy with the
performance of Congress as a whole.

• Late 2014: one prominent survey revealed that
less than 20% of Americans approved of the way
Congress was doing its job.

 Yet more than 95% of incumbents were reelected to
serve in the 114th Congress!

According to the chart, which
group's 2015 congressional
membership least reflects their
percentage of the U.S. population?

A. women

B. Asian Americans

C. Hispanics

D. African Americans

In 2015, women's percent of US
population was 50.8% while
their percent of membership in
Congress was 20.1%.

Other stats:

Women's congressional
membership has increased the most since 1960

Asian American's 2015
congressional membership most reflects their percentage of
the U.S. population but has
increased the least since 1960

Hispanics' percentage of
the total U.S. population
has increased the most since 1960

How has the House's
representation more accurately
reflected the will of the people
over time?

A. The representation in Congress is
from only small geographical areas.

B. The representation in Congress
has become more diverse in regards to minority groups and gender.

C. The representation in Congress
has not changed in regards to
minority groups or gender.

D. The representation in Congress
reflects the will of very few
Americans.